


Nhaama, stay

by thedreamerdelta



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: DRK family shenanigans, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Other, Pre-Relationship, Suicidal Thoughts, Valentione's Day (Final Fantasy XIV), but kind of jokingly?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29723676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedreamerdelta/pseuds/thedreamerdelta
Summary: The Warrior of Light makes a choice.Rielle helps.(The moogles do not.)
Relationships: Sidurgu Orl/Warrior of Light
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12
Collections: Bookclub Valentione's Fic Exchange 2021





	Nhaama, stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Antiloquist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antiloquist/gifts).



> Mind the tags.
> 
> Made for the Valentione's exchange for the ever-lovely [bookclub](https://discord.gg/enabling-debauched-xivfic). Pay us a visit!

The night sky over the Dravanian Forelands sparked and glowed, fiery lights creating the constellations of the heavens so adored by astrologians Sharlayan and Ishgardian alike. The air was calm, the humidity slight, the temperature not too crisp nor too warm. It was, all things considered, a rather nice night, if one ignored the faint smell of chocobo dung and whatever acrid smokes wafted on the occasional breeze from the nearby Gnath settlements.

But far above their perch on the rooftop, the moon was definitely mocking them - the Warrior of Light was sure of it.

“Why are you glaring at the sky?” Rielle asked curiously. 

Did they dare explain?

“Did Sidurgu ever tell you the story of Nhaama and Azim?” the Warrior asked instead, gaze fixated on the stars above.

Rielle shook her head. 

“I learned about it in a place far east of here, called the Azim Steppe.” They laid out the blanket they’d brought up with them and gestured to the quiet girl, patting the empty space they’d left for her. “It’s not really my tale to tell - it’s an Au’ra story - but I’ll retell it the best that I can.” She sat down and looked up at them expectantly.

“The tale itself is a creation myth. It tells of a peaceful world, long ago formed by the Dawn Father Azim and the Dusk Mother Nhaama. But in time, their new world became a point of contention. The two deities came to quarrel over which of them was most fit to rule over it, and created mortals to serve in their immemorial war by proxy.” 

They held their hands out, palms up, as if scales balancing an invisible weight.

“And so it goes that these engendered Spoken were the first of the Au’ra. The Raen, beloved children of the Dawn Father, and the Xaela, the chosen favourites of the Dusk Mother. Of course, not all tribes are of the same mind when it comes to their patron deities.”

“Why not?” Rielle rested her head on one fist, intently listening.

“I couldn’t say for certain. I’m not a scholar, nor am I from one of the roaming tribes. But my best guess? The variations in the stories are probably just due to time.” 

The Warrior idly scratched at the rooftop below them. “Despite their differences, I think people still want a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves. For example, the Oronir take the myth a step beyond the platonic,” they continued with a wry smile, “as their version of the legend says that Azim and Nhaama were lovers, but could not be together as they are the sun and moon. So it is their belief that for every Oroniri - for every Azim, there is a Nhaama for them out there, waiting.”

“Almost like soulmates,” Rielle said. “How sweet.”

They looked over at the smiling young woman, mildly taken aback by her enthusiasm. “I suppose. Though there are some who would consider it rather... Backwards. Entitled, even. Not everyone needs to have another half in order to be their whole self, surely.”

(They ignored Fray’s pointed internal nudge.)

“Well, that all depends on the people, doesn’t it?” she replied. “It’s only negative if people make it so, right?”

Rielle always was wiser than her years, the Warrior thought to themselves.

“So what brought you out here?” The teen asked. “Sid’s snoring isn’t that bad.”

Ah. That. 

A touch of color splashed across their cheeks. “It’s silly.”

“Silly like that man with the adopted mammet earlier?”

They laughed. “No, not that silly.”

“Well, then what is it?”

“I-” The smile froze on their face. Were they really going to say it out loud?

To Rielle, of all people? 

Stop it, chided Fray. She’s not going to make fun of you.

“-iwskngfgft,” mumbled the Warrior, wishing the skies would swallow them whole.

A beat of silence.

“Could you please repeat that?” asked Rielle. “Because-”

They slunk down into the roof and repeated, tonelessly: “I wanted to think of a gift. For Sidurgu.”

“...In general? His nameday is- well, actually, I’m not sure, come to think of it...”

“For Valentione’s.” 

The chirping of summer crickets that filled the resulting silence was almost comical in its timeliness.

“Well,” Rielle cheerfully replied, as if the gods-blessed Warrior of Light hadn’t opened their mouth and made manifest an actual physical want for the first time since joining the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, “they do say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Why not start with that and go from there?”

Not just men, the Warrior grumbled internally, thinking of the countless times people and goblins alike had asked them for various foodstuffs. 

“You’re not wrong, I suppose.” They frowned. “Are you sure that would be good enough?”

The ‘Are you sure I’m good enough?’ went unspoken. Fray sighed.

“If it comes from your heart, anything you give will be enough,” she replied, unusually solemn.

Touched by her words, they rubbed their temples to hide their smile. “I’ll think of something.”

“I know you will. Don’t stay out too late, though.” The young woman gave them a brief pat on the shoulder and retired to the room for the night. 

The warrior stared out at the horizon in thought. The moon continued its watchful gaze.

“Food, huh?”

* * *

“And what business does our absent Khagan have with the illustrious Sun today?” Magnai postured and gesticulated from atop his celestially gaudy chair.

The Warrior of Light kept their sighs to themselves, somehow. 

They knew they should have gone the further distance to the Mol instead of simply teleporting up to the Dawn throne.

“Well…”

* * *

“Do you ever think about how similar moogles are to plants?” The Warrior of Light mused, staring out at the floating pom-like motes of the Churning Mists.

Sidurgu choked on his trail mix. “What-? No. No, I don’t. I don’t think about them at all. Why?”

“Imagine if you caught one and blew on their tail and all the fur floated away. Wouldn’t that be something?”

He paused. Snorted. “Hm.”

The Warrior grinned. “Right?”

“That can’t possibly be what you wanted to talk to me about, though,” Sidurgu pointedly remarked.

They looked down, heat rising to their cheeks. Well, now or never. “I... actually brought something for you.” 

“...For me?” he asked, bewildered.

They rummaged through their backpack, avoiding his eyes. “I was in the Far East-” 

His expression darkened. 

“-well, the Azim Steppe actually, and-”

“Don’t.” The Auri man interrupted. He rubbed at the scales at the bridge of his nose and frowned.

The Warrior paused, hand still clutched around their painstakingly-acquired present. “I beg your pardon?”

“Don’t... Just-” Sidurgu broke off, shaking his head. “I understand what you’re trying to do, but…” He sighed, lost in thought. “Just don’t, alright? Too many memories, if you catch my drift.”

“Oh…” they trailed off as their heart sunk, as if an invisible hand reached through their chest only to temper the enthusiasm of their once-frenetic heartbeat. “Okay. That’s fine then. I’ll just...take this back or something.” 

How foolish of them to think they had a chance at anything other than killing monsters and defeating primals, they thought, eyes stinging as they turned away. The silence dragged on as the Warrior felt humiliated tears drip down their cheeks in a sort of stupor. They sniffed.

Sidurgu looked over at them in dismay and alarm. “No, don’t cry-”

Great. How embarrassing. 

“-I actually don’t know how to handle crying people-”

And like a cracking dam, the pressure inside burst. They whipped back around to face him with all the outrage of a scorned would-be lover.

“Oh that’s all very well and good, let me just go be emotionally inconvenient somewhere else-” 

“That’s not what I meant!”

Arms flailing, they continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “-with my stupid pastries that I’ll just eat alone even though all I wanted was to find you something nice for Valentione’s because for some godsforsaken reason I love you-” 

Sidurgu inhaled sharply and took a step back. “Wait, you- What?!”

“-and Fray’s been laughing at me because I kept losing the nerve to say something so I thought maybe this stupid holiday would give me the courage but then you go and reject me before I even get to say anything-”

“Er-” His face colored. 

“-and do you know how long it took me to get through to the Oronir that I wasn’t going to fight him just then I just wanted a stupid recipe-”

“Waitwait- Wait, I said-” Sidurgu slapped his hand over their still-moving mouth. “I don’t understand.”

“What’s not to understand?” they asked, voice still muffled by his gauntlet. “Obviously-”

“You’re not supposed to return my feelings, you’re the Warrior of Light-”

“-I’m just supposed to wallow-” They broke off, his words finally catching up to them. “Wait, what?”

“-and you’re my student kind of and I’m probably just projecting-”

“Sid…”

“-you know what, I’m just going to go jump off an island now, save us both the trouble-”

They grabbed his wrist in a flash. “You better not. Fucking idiot.”

He paused. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. And fuck what we’re not ‘supposed’ to do, Sidurgu Orl. I like you and you like me and we’re both consenting adults and that’s all that matters.” 

“...You do?”

"I do." Their eyes soften. “And if Fray were here they’d say the same thing and you know it.”

As their gazes met each other and held fast, emotions once bottled up now locked in their instant of earth-shattering revelation, it could have almost have been an actual Moment, if there hadn’t been a loud POP followed by an untimely (or incredibly timely, depending on who you asked) shower of… heart-shaped confetti?

“OI! Get BACK here where I can reach you, furry SHITES-”

The moogles merely kupoed and laughed, floating out of reach and tossing the rest of the bits into the air before heading up into the skies, presumably back to the nearby Moghome.

The Warrior gripped Sidurgu’s hand tightly, keeping him from chasing after the interlopers. “I don’t suppose you want to test out that plant theory now?”

He huffed as the Warrior brushed confetti off of his armor (well, as much of it as they could). “Not likely. I'll take that present, though.”

“Maybe later, perhaps.” They chuckled and reached up to stroke his face, stepping in closer. “For now… I’d like it if you could just stay with me, okay?”

Cheeks glowing, he could only nod wordlessly as the Warrior of Light tugged him down by his collar to meet their lips.


End file.
